Soft Side
by Abisian
Summary: Red has a flashback showing his ... softer side. Much different from what I've been writing lately.
1. Soft Side

**Author's Notes:** This is kinda spur-of-the-moment, but I think it's … okay. For now. It's a little different from the kind of thing I've been writing for the past month or so, but it's a nice change I think. Title's iffy; nothing would go with this little piece! But oh well. Enjoy

**Soft Side**

Red opened his eyes slowly, the sunlight pouring through his open window. Someone had already come into his room and opened his drapes, leaving a newspaper and stack of mail on his bedside table.

"Tima," he called, sitting up and opening the newspaper. The doorknob slowly turned and the door was cracked open a bit. A small blonde head peered around the side of the door, looking up with big green eyes at the Duke. Duke Red smiled at her over his newspaper before disappearing behind it.

Tima smiled from the doorway and stepped in, closing the door silently behind her. She jumped onto Red's bed, struggling across the sea of fluffy blankets and pillows toward him. She sat beside him, her feet dangling off the edge of the bed. She gazed up at him expectantly, her eyes, if possible, bigger than before.

Duke Red glanced down at her then back to his paper. A grin parted his lips and he chuckled.

"Buttering me up, eh?" he said, turning a page of the newspaper. Tima's face cracked into a smile also, and she got up to stand on the bed behind him. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Duke Red's neck, her cheek pressed against his.

"You promised you would do it today. You said it weeks ago, Papa, and you gotta keep your promise!" she said in his ear. Red laughed softly and closed the paper, folding it and tossing it aside.

Tima let go of her father so he could sit her in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I suppose I did say that. All right, a walk in the park it is." He let go of her and she slipped out of his lap.

"You go and let me get dressed, and then we'll go." Tima nodded and ran from the room, closing it behind her with a sharp snap. Red sighed and chuckled, leaning back in his pillows.

He couldn't imagine living days without her …


	2. Soft Center

**Author's Notes:** I felt compelled to write a second chapter ... For Lynny M., of course Enjoy.

**Soft Center**

Red walked hand-in-hand with Tima, her crown of golden hair barely reaching his elbow. She licked happily on a melting ice cream cone, a slight skip in her step. The Duke would have preferred it to be a frigid winter instead of a hot summer, but Tima had insisted. It was 'because he wore suits' that he disliked the summer so much.

Duke Red looked down at himself as her words flashed in his mind. Indeed, his maroon business attire didn't suit the current weather conditions. He felt suddenly embarrassed but quickly sought a reason why he shouldn't be. How many people could say it looked natural to picture Red in anything other than a suit? Even the bunny slippers his wife had gotten him several years back still sat untouched in the top of his closet.

Red chuckled as he imagined himself reading the newspaper, holding a coffee cup and tapping his bunny-clad feet on the floor. Tima looked up at him for a moment before her lips parted in a toothy grin. Red smiled back down at her and she let go of his hand, running ahead of him to the park entrance. She hastily finished her ice cream before stuffing it in the trash bin; afterwards, she made her way to the swingset.

Duke Red watched as Tima struggled to seat herself in the swing. With a small smile still on his face, he walked behind her and began pushing her at a slow, steady pace. When his wife was alive, the three of them would come here often, only then Duke Red would sit on the bench across from the swings and watch as though looking in on a life that wasn't his.

"Daddy?" Tima's voice interrupted his blissful memories. "Do you miss Mommy?" she said. Red was completely unprepared for this conversation quite yet, but it turned out simpler than he thought, if a little disturbing.

"Yes, I miss your mother very much," he said calmly, taking it in stride. There was a small pause before Tima continued.

"When I die, will you miss me, too?" Duke Red had stopped swinging Tima and now had his hands on her small ones, both clamped over the chains of the swing. This time, it was Duke Red who hesitated before replying.

"Why so many questions?" he said airily.

"Answer, please, Daddy?" Red swallowed.

"Of course I _would _miss you, but I plan on dying long before you!" he said. Tima looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

"That's all I needed to know."

And Duke Red began pushing her in the swing once more.

Duke Red closed his bedroom door behind him and made his way to the closet. He pulled down a light blue shoebox from the top of the closet, turning away and sitting on his bed with the box beside him. He bent down to remove the penny loafers from his feet, replacing then with the bunny slippers from the box. He replaced the box in the top of the closet and walked from the room, the bunny ears flapping as he did so.

**Author's Note:** I rather liked it Title's still icky, and there's a part that's a little bothersome: In the fourth paragraph where it mentions Red's wife ... I don't really know how she or Tima died or even if the movie mentions it because I haven't seen the movie in so long. So don't flame if I got it wrong or something, like if she and Tima died at the same time. Like I said, I can't even remember if the movie said much about it. Anyways ... uh, yeah. Hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it especially the last bit. Rather short, though, wasn't it?


End file.
